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Seagrass Epiphytes at a Glance

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Seagrass Epiphytes at a Glance 1 SEA-GRASS EPIPHYTES (“HANGERS-ON”) AT A GLANCE BACKGROUND Sea-grasses are grass-like, aquatic, flowering plants, 4. with true leaves, stems and roots. They grow in sand and mud (sedimentary aquatic environments, or soft “bottoms”) trapping sediment, their horizontal stems helping to prevent mobile substrates from 4. washing away during storms. Algae require harder, stable surfaces on which to 2. grow – they attach to rock (hard “bottoms”), shells, port structures such as jetty piles or even ships hulls. In addition, some algae and also some animal colonies either preferentially or incidentally grow permanently attached to already-established algae or sea-grasses, a “lifestyle” or niche called epiphytism. The series of pictures below is designed to introduce you to some sea-grass epiphytes of southern Australian seas. Certainly not all of them, as there may be as many as 117 algal species according to 1. one worker.1. Also, small, mobile animals that graze microscopic films of living organisms that grow on sea-grasses, are not included. Below, you will find pictures of only the commonest and more easily observable epiphytes, posted as a series of panels containing similar-looking organisms. To locate the sea-grasses that act as substrates for them, go to Pictured Keys.....-Major Groups - sea grasses, on this Website FACTS ABOUT SEA-GRASS EPIPHYTES • 1.most attach to the surface of sea-grasses and do not use them for nutrition (however, for parasites and intimate 3. anatomical connections, see Algal intimates, on this website) • 1.in some sea-grass meadows, epiphytes may be only 25% of the total weighable material (the biomass) but perform more algal epiphytes on a pressed than 60% of the photosynthesis (the productivity) • 2.sea-grasses host similar epiphytes specimen of the sea-grass Amphibolis • some epiphytes prefer shallow water communities, others the antarctica at the State Herbarium of plant tips, some the jointed parts of the stem South Australia. • 3.epiphytes harbor a diverse community of cryptic crustaceans and molluscs that are food for economically important fish - on stems species as well as being themselves fish food 1. coralline, jointed Red alga • 4.unfortunately, epiphytes may grow so densely, particularly 2. “fluffy” Red alga if plant nutrients are released into coastal waters from sewage outfalls, they smother their host sea-grasses. For example, 3. narrow-branched Red alga some 4,000 - 5,000 ha of sea-grass meadows have been lost - on leaves along metropolitan Adelaide S.A. coastline as a consequence 4. white, scaly, coralline Red alga of over-supply (eutrophication) of nutrients • because they are small and inconspicuous, many epiphytes may be undescribed – these are called cryptic species Wiry Sea nymph, Amphibolis in 2m of water, Cape Jervis SA. Twisted leaves arise from upright Broad-leaved Tape-grass, Posidonia in sand at stems. Horizontal runners have collected sediment Sea-grass meadows at Encounter Bay SA, about 1m 20m depth, the “Hotspot” West Coast SA. The forming a bank about 400 mm tall. The warty deep: horizontal stem or runner connecting the two tufts brown alga Scaberia is growing attached to pebbles broad-leaved Tape-grass, Posidonia at left, of leaves is buried beneath the coarse sand in an eroded part of the bank at right narrow-leaved Eel grass, Heterozostera on the right The panels below illustrate only Some useful terms epiphytes large enough to be discerned in forked ! (dichot- the field, that is, larger than about 10 mm omous) in total length. For some of the smaller, flat- bladed and inconspicuous epiphytes usually filamentous flat-branching needing magnification, see Groups at a glance: marine plant crusts, stains, scums foliose and scales and also Turf and fouling algae. I-III on this Website. encrusting saccate pinnate/ in 2 rows Baldock, R N (2020). Seagrass epiphytes at a glance. 26 pp. Algae Revealed. Adelaide: State Herbarium of South Australia flora.sa.gov.au/algae_revealed 2 SCALE, MICROSCOPE VIEWS, NAMES AND FOLLOW-UP SEARCHES The coin used as a scale is 24 mm or almost 1” across. Unless acknowledged otherwise, all images have been made by the author and come from pressed specimens or the extensive slide collection of the algal unit, State Herbarium of S Australia, collections generated by the late Professor Womersley and his workers over some 60 years. Images with dark backgrounds have been taken using phase contrast or interference microscopy to highlight transparent structures. Other images may be stained dark blue. Scientific names follow those found in Womersley, H B S. (1984 - 1988). The Marine Benthic Flora of southern Australia Parts I- III as it continues to provide the most comprehensive and accessible account. Recent name changes can be found in https://algaebase.org/ The many references for following up identifications made in the Panels below can be found in the Website http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/algae_revealed/index.shtml Adelaide: State Herbarium of South Australia, 2009 – 2020. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Thanks to Carolyn Ricci of the State Herbarium of South Australia who gave helpful advice as to the format and content of this publication, gathered some of the specimens together and also edited the material. plants or SEARCH animals permanently STRATEGY attached to sea-grasses generally colourless, grey or generally coloured unless transparent, feathery, in thin bleached white from lines, with patterned scales exposure to the sun or coral-like or in shells brown, some slimy & worm- generally not brown, ANIMALS like, flat or narrow-branched but dark or bright go to panel #A, pages 3-5 BROWN ALGAE green, pink, dark red go to panel #B, pages 6-11 generally bright or dark green, lettuce-like or thread-like A4 B5 GREEN ALGAE & BLUE- A1 BRYOZOANS plants GREEN ALGAE A2 A3 SPONGES pages 4, 5 worm-like go to panel #G, pages 12, 13 page 3 HYDROIDS SPIRORBIDS pink or red, fluffy, or thread- pages 3, 4 page 4 like, or narrow-branched, or B1 B4 lettuce-like; or limey and G2 plants hollow, plants crunchy hollow G3 balloon-shaped filamentous RED ALGAE page 12 foliose page 6 pages 10, 11 G1 B2 B3 go to panel #R, pages 14-26 page 13 filamentous plants flat- plants tufted, page 12 branched wiry R1 pages 7, 8 page 9 filamentous G4 R2 R5 blue-green pages 14-18 coralline narrow- algae pages 25, 26 branched page 13 pages 19-21 R3 R4 ribbon & broad- bead-like bladed pages 24 pages 22, 23 LITERATURE 1. Borowitzka M.A. and Lethbridge R.C. (1989) Seagrass epiphytes. In: Larkum AWD, McComb AJ and Shepherd SA (eds) Seagrasses: With Special Reference to the Australasian Region, pp 458–499. Elsevier/North Holland, Amsterdam 2. Johnson J. E. (1973) A study of the algal epiphytes on the seagrass Posidonia australis Hook. f. in two areas along the southern Australian coast. MS 3. Bloomfield, A.L. & Gillanders, B.M. (2005) Fish and invertebrate assemblages in seagrass, mangrove, saltmarsh, and nonvegetated habitats. Estuaries 28, 63–77.10.1007 4. Westphalen, G et al (2005) A review of seagrass loss on the Adelaide metropolitan coastline. Adelaide coastal waters study. Technical Report Number 2. EPA, Adelaide 5. common name suggested by Edgar, G J (2008). Australian marine life. Th e plants and animals of temperate waters. Sydney, New Holland 6. Gowlett-Holmes, K (2008). A field guide to the marine invertebrates of South Australia. Sandy Bay, Tasmania. Notomares 7. Womersley, H B S & Baldock R N (2003). The Encounter 2002 expedition to the Isles of St Francis, South Australia: marine benthic algae. Trans R Soc SA (2003) 127 (2) 141:151 8. Harvey, A et al (2005). Coralline algae of central New Zealand. An identification guide to common “crustose” species. NIWA Information Series No. 57 9. Bock, P E (1982) Chapter 9. in Shepherd S A & Thomas I M. Marine Invertebrates of Southern Australia Part I. Adelaide, Government Printer. See also The Bryozoa Home Page www.bryoza.net 10. Shepherd, S A & I M Thomas (Eds) (1982). Marine invertebrates of southern Australia. Part I. Adelaide, Government Printer Baldock, R N (2020). Seagrass epiphytes at a glance. 26 pp. Algae Revealed. Adelaide: State Herbarium of South Australia flora.sa.gov.au/algae_revealed 3 PANEL A: ANIMALS A1: SPONGES 6,10. irregular masses on sea-grass stems, often punctured with visible but tiny pores, and with a rough texture due to the needle- like internal skeleton RRight: one of many possible sponges that grow on sea-grass stems Far right, above: magnified view, tiny pores visible Far right, below: sponge skeleton of spicules, in this example, made of limey material that dissolves in acid Other sponges have spicules made of glassy material that is not acid soluble A2: HYDROIDS 10. minute hydra-like individuals (polyps) living in cups in small or large, flexible colonies A2.1: pinnate colonies, polyps on opposite sides of flexible branches pinnate/ in 2 rows hyd hyd Stereotheca elongata hyd hyd 1. many hyd Elongate seagrass hydroid hyd on the sea-grass Amphibolis griffithii pinnate hyd gon hyd • cups holding feeding polyps colonies (hydrothecae, hyd) occur on both on the sea- sides of the “stem” bearing them, grass stem about 5 teeth at the rims, their bases sunken into the “stem” • large reproductive cups (gonotheca, gon) have prominent “horns” A2.2: colonies creeping on sea- grass (also algal) hyd surfaces, polyps on one hyd side of branches on stalks rh ho gon nem st hyd Campanularia sp • host (ho) • creeping runner (hydrorhiza, rh) • cups holding feeding polyps (hydrothecae, hyd) ho • large reproductive cup (gonotheca, gon) • chain containing minute stinging individuals (nematothecae, nem) Panel A continued next page • stalk (st) with wavy margins diagnostic of the genus 1.One study places the following Bryozoans (not illustrated above) as common on sea-grass stems:- Adeonellopsis portmarina,, Pyripora polita Baldock, R N (2020).
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